Total pages in book: 100
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 95013 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 475(@200wpm)___ 380(@250wpm)___ 317(@300wpm)
“Now is the time. He won’t see you coming in the chaos.”
“If I fail—”
“Then don’t.” She started to breathe hard, her eyes still glistening. “Kill him, Constantine. Kill him, then come home to us. I know you can do this.”
She believed in me without question. Still had faith in me even though I’d let her down before.
She rose on her tiptoes and cupped my cheeks, coming as close to me as her little body would allow. “I know you can.”
I threw a bag together, but it was mostly filled with guns and ammo. I didn’t expect to sleep or eat until one of us was dead, so clothes and toiletries were unnecessary. I tossed everything in the back of the Range Rover parked out front while Aurelia stood there with Medusa, knowing I was about to drive off.
She held herself together, but her eyes betrayed her sadness.
I walked up to her, afraid this wasn’t a see you later . . . but a real goodbye.
Her eyes watered the longer she stared. Medusa inched closer to her, rubbing her snout against Aurelia’s hand and issuing a whine like she knew something bad was about to happen.
I moved into her and cupped her face, looking at the woman who’d stolen my heart across a dimly lit room what felt like an eternity ago. I stroked her cheek with my thumb as I looked at her, and I felt her tremble in my grip as she started to cry. “Sweetheart, our wedding is in two weeks. I promise I’ll be there to marry you.”
Her hands gripped my wrists, and she nodded as she continued to cry.
“I promise I’ll be there in six months when our baby is born.”
She nodded again.
“But I have to do this first.”
“I know,” she said in a whisper.
“Cosa Nostra will protect you until I come back. They’ll be here in a few hours.”
“Okay.”
I pressed a kiss to her forehead and then her lips. “I fucking love you.”
“I fucking love you too,” she said as she cried harder.
I let her go before I kneeled down to embrace Medusa, my best friend, the only other woman in my heart. I kissed her on the head as I dug my fingers deep into the fur at the back of her neck. “I love you too, baby girl.”
She started to pant slightly, like she knew I was about to leave and possibly never come back.
“Take care of them while I’m gone, all right?” I kissed her again. “See you soon.”
I turned away from them both and got behind the wheel. I started the engine and drove off without looking at them again. I didn’t check the rearview mirror as I pulled out of the gate, knowing if I saw them one more time, I might turn right back around.
I sped to Palermo, getting there an hour quicker than I normally would have because I drove like an asshole. I pulled up to Villa de la Sirenuse, knowing Tommaso would be there, that the crew would be lying low in light of the violence infecting Rome like a fucking disease.
I was escorted into his study, and he was already there, talking on the phone to someone, and based on what I heard, they were discussing the events in the capital. He hung up, then turned to me. “Jesus Christ.”
I walked right up to him, facing off with him like an adversary rather than an ally. “We need to leave for Rome now.”
“We?”
“Yes, fucking we. Sicily may be an island, but you’re still part of Italy, the Roman Republic—and you should defend it with your life. I’m not going to stand by and watch Darius burn it to the ground. Are you?”
Tommaso took a slight step back, hands sliding into the pockets of his trousers.
“Are you?”
“Constantine—”
“Where is your patriotism? A madman is letting our enemies terrorize our people and set our monuments ablaze and destroy the Eternal City, and you’re going to sit on your hands and keep them warm? I’m Emperor Constantine of the Roman Republic, and I order you to bear arms and fight with me.”
“Constantine—”
I raised my voice to a new volume, a baritone and an intensity I’d never reached before. “I’m not asking you.”
Everyone in the room stilled, Tommaso and his two henchmen who guarded him day and night.
I stared Tommaso down, knowing he was capable of more than he showed. He pretended to only care for power and money, but he wouldn’t have risked his neck for my brother if he were devoid of empathy. “You think it won’t affect you, but I promise his shadow will make its way to Sicily and you’ll never see the sun again. Once he realizes exactly how much Cosa Nostra is worth, he’ll gut you like a pig. Help me defeat him, and you’ll guarantee your perseverance. Either fight with me to protect your own skin or do it because it’s the right thing to do—or both.”